Before They Were Sisters

Chapter 7: Unsafe Place

An indescribable amount of dread surged through Marie with each step she took, fearing that one of them would alert Sake. At the same time, she didn't really care. She just wanted to grab Callie and run as fast and as far as she could.

Marie barged into the bedroom Callie was in. The younger inkling shot up in the bed, startled. "Y-you're back!" she said in relief, pushing the covers off her. "Did you find any snacks?"

Instead of answering her question, Marie marched over to Callie and grabbed her arm. She tried her best to put on a brave face, but even then, she looked terrified. "We have to go. Now." She said hastily, not giving Callie time to process anything. Each second they spent in this room was one second they gave Sake to finish eating.

"W-what's wrong?" Callie asked, but again, Marie didn't answer. She just pulled her cousin along, not saying a word.

Marie didn't want to scare Callie. Despite her efforts, Callie's face contorted into a concerned expression. She even struggled a little.

"Marie!" Callie said lowly, showing her discomfort with how harsh Marie was being physically. "What's wrong?!" she asked again.

"We have to go," Marie whispered back, refusing to elaborate further.

"Tell me why!" Callie demanded.

Marie turned back to her cousin. "Please, let's just get out of here firs—" She bumped into something hard and staggered back along with her cousin.

Ow! Where'd that wall come from? Marie whined, rubbing her head. She looked forward, and immediately, her face paled.

Standing in front of them was none other than Sake. His hands were on his hips, and an unamused expression was plastered on his face. "What did I tell you two?"

Callie and Marie froze instantly, but for different reasons. Callie never liked getting in trouble—and doing so with a person of Sake's stature was definitely nerve-wracking. As for Marie...well, she's just thinking of the consequences.

At first, she almost, almost tricked herself into believing what she saw earlier was something her mind had made up. After all, there was no way Sake could move that fast to stop them in the middle of the hall—at least, that's what Marie thought. But one look at Sake told her otherwise.

The corner of his black lips and the tips of his claws were stained with dried-out ink. Or was that blood? Either way, the proof was there. It was faint, barely noticeable, even up close. If you weren't looking for it, you would easily gloss over it.

How'd he clean himself so fast...? Marie thought, trying to distract herself from the vivid imagery of Sake eating those corpses... As well as imagining her and Callie as those corpses.

"Well? What do you two have to say for yourself?" Sake questioned while tapping his foot, breaking the silence Marie hadn't even noticed formed.

This was bad. If Sake found out she had seen what he did, he'd surely eat her and Callie.

...

If...

Marie glanced at Callie, who opened and closed her mouth rapidly, trying to come up with a thousand excuses. As she struggled to find words, she did a little prance that reminded Marie of the many times she had to go use the bathroom.

"S-sorry, Sake!" She whipped her head around to face Sake. "C-Callie was just feeling suuuuper queasy and said she needed to use the bathroom. I tried to tell her to hold it, but she couldn't wait any longer!"

Marie spoke at a thousand words per second and was afraid she'd have to repeat everything. To make matters worse, Callie looked at her weirdly, which resulted in Sake doing the same.

Silence permeated through the hall, practically emphasizing just how dumb that excuse was. What was she thinking? It was such an obvious lie.

"Well, if that's the case, you're going the wrong way." Surprisingly, Sake bought it. He lowered his arms and passed the cousins. "The bathroom is over here." He waved them over, causing Marie to gulp as she cautiously pulled Callie with her.

Sake would lead the two over to the bathroom door, opening it and gesturing for the duo to head inside. "Be quick, please. I was in the middle of something important, and the longer it takes me to do that, the longer it'll be before I can take you two home." Only Callie nodded as she and Marie stepped inside. "Now, I'll wait outside for you to finish. After you do, I want you two back in that room, and I want you to stay there until I come get you. Alright?" This time, both cousins nodded. "Good. Go along now." He waved them off, closing the door behind them.

Marie quickly locked the door, then spun around to scan the bathroom's interior. Sadly, it had everything but what she was hoping for—a window.

"Marie?! Why'd you lie to him?" Callie whispered, clearly a little annoyed now.

Marie gently pushed her further into the bathroom, seeing she couldn't keep what she saw a secret any longer. Not if she wanted Callie's cooperation, anyway.

"C-Callie, please listen to me." She spoke quietly in a serious tone. This was the first time Callie had heard Marie so scared, so naturally, she listened. "S-Sake is a bad man. Worse than those shadow men..."

Callie's face widened exaggeratedly. "W-what?! You said he saved us though??"

"H-he did. But I don't think he saved us just to save us." Marie realized how little sense that sentence made to Callie, as she tilted her head, confused. Marie grabbed Callie's shoulders, took in a deep breath, and spoke. "I s-saw him, Callie. He was eating people..." she choked out through tears, which were rapidly forming in her eyes. Just recalling the scene made her want to cry and vomit.

Color drained from Callie's face. "E-Eating people? M-Mr. Sake wouldn't do that... would he??"

Marie wasn't even sure how to respond, so she just shook her head. "I know what I saw. And... I think he wants to eat us next..."

"Why would you think that?!"

"I don't know... I just... I have this feeling. A bad feeling."

There was a pause in the conversation. Callie looked down, unsure what to say. Eventually, she figured out what to ask. "S-so...what do we do?"

Marie looked back to Callie, this time looking less scared and more determined. "We escape."